Where oh where have you been Business Teacher?

It's been 6 years since I written a post! Bad teacher, shame on me! However, it's not for a lack of material, but time.  Life took over. My children have grown up.  I have a college graduate, a second year college student, and a sophomore in high school now.  This dynamic has slowed me down a little. I had a few health challenges and decided to get more learning, so I obtained a Master of Arts in Education Technology.  Then I added the IT Programming CTE program to my high school and added two classes in our high school business department.

This week at my first National Business Education Association (NBEA) conference I realized I have done a lot and have a lot to share. So I am going to start small with one post a week on a topic in education.  Specifically, education technology.  I don't know... that's what I'm thinking right now. I'll write again soon.

Adapting a quote from the movie poltergeist, "I'm back!"

Year in Review

Wow! I haven't been out here in a n time!  A lot has transpired in my life since my last post.  First of all, I got a teaching job!  (This explains my absence, really...) I am teaching about 88 miles away from home each way, at a charter school.  I was bummed at first but hey, a job's a job right?  Especially in Michigan's education market. You may be saying but charter schools are public schools.  You are absolutely correct.  However, for me it was important to give back to the schools that gave me the opportunities I have been blessed with.  After being at this school for the last 4 months I have learned more than my students will ever know.  I believe that I was sent to this school for a reason and not to just satisfy my needs as an educator either.

Let me give you a little background on my school.  The population is approximately 99%  middle eastern descent.  About 70% of the students are English Language Learners and speak a language other than English as their native tongue.  The school functions on the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. The school has one of the highest attrition rates I have ever heard of.  My students are used to not seeing a teacher after the first year or in some cases I have witnessed the first month.  I didn't want to believe what I heard at orientation from other teachers so I steered clear of the teacher's lounge and focused on my classroom.  I made up my mind in the words of Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls, "And I am telling you I'm not going/...And you, and you and you, you're gonna love me."  Well at least learn from me anyway.  To make this a reality I decided to sit back and observe and then attack the problem.  Here are some obstacles that I faced.  I have never used let alone heard of the IB curriculum and philosophy, the previous tech teachers both left the previous year, so myself and the other tech teacher (the only 2 in the department) were brand new.  Brand new as in just out of college and this was our first teaching job.  Luckily, we graduated from the same university and had the exact same background but different experiences to draw from. Lesson planning, unit planning was totally different from what we learned in "teacher school".  We made it past that though, whew.

Then we were ready for the first day of school.  That was not a good day. Our schedules changed at 8:05 am.  School started at 8:00 am.  The first 2 hours were double booked classes of 60 ninth graders in a computer lab equipped for 29 students.  Then the next two weeks there were 3 more schedule changes.  Finally, the third week of school we had a solid schedule of classes. I teach 13 classes a week and am responsible for teaching 322 students grades 6-12.  Then there was standardized testing on... you guessed it... computers!  We were displaced from the lab for 2 weeks.  Can you imagined what this does to building relationships and classroom management?  If you imagined chaos you are absolutely right!

I made it past the month of September, and into October were parent teacher conferences.  The only thing I will say here is that there is a difference between being an advocate for your child's education and being pushy about grade adjustments.

Now that things have simmered down and we have had 2 breaks in November and now winter break in December, I have to say I have made it to hump day!  On the last day before winter break my students and I counted down together the hours, minutes and seconds until break.  It was awesome!  I had students give me holiday cards, hugs and well wishes as we departed.  I felt warm and fuzzy!  I felt I had made it as a new teacher.  Now I know the minute I give the next quiz, or hard assignment that will change.  But I learned a few things:

1. Organization is KEY! If it is chaos for you, it is chaos for students too. The disorganization that we both experienced at the beginning of the year was neither my fault or theirs. When I acknowledged this to students (never blaming the administration of course, but citing that I too am a victim) we were able to work together to get through it.
2. Transparency is a good thing when working with students.  When sharing my expectations with students, I shared my lack of all-knowing knowledge and that I expected them to teach me too.  This was my first experience with SMART boards and my students have jumped to the challenge to teach me as well as the pranks (I no longer like the magic pen with disappearing ink). I think that this allowed them to realize that I am a human being too.  I do have to remind some that I was a pre-teen/teenager once too.  
3. The phrase "Change is Constant" is wrong.  It should be "Change may be constant but Reflection is mandatory". I have had to make more adjustments to my lessons and teaching style this year than I can keep up with.  All because I am sensitive to my students needs and struggles.  For example, my students can grasp material and recite it right back.  Application...that's a problem. I have had to break things down into mini steps and assess it that way to ensure their ability for understanding and application. 
4. Modeling the golden rule consistently pays off. A big part of the behavioral issues I experienced were because of the massive changes at the beginning of the year as well as many new teachers.  We all remember the days of torturing the substitute when in school.  Here new teachers get the same treatment. I had already made up my mind (Dreamgirls, remember?), but the words of an Assistant Principal just confirmed it.  He said,"Unfortunately, hese students have become the masters of ruining new teachers." This was just confirmation to my challenge.  The actions of my students before winter break were just evidence that my constant greetings, addressing students in the hallways and participating outside the classroom, genuinely showing care and treating them how I want to be treated is paying off.

So in 2012 I have a few resolutions:

• Get to this blog at least once a week.
• Keep reflecting and building my knowledge and my students
• Be proactive at all times.
• Help, my students to be masters of building new teachers and not ruining them.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MIA Aspiring Educator/ Life’s Experiences

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written on this blog.  I’ve been quite busy. I’ve been learning, not teaching.

The market here in Michigan is not a very good one with the economy as it is and the state of education.  I imagine it is hard everywhere for educators and aspiring educators alike. After an intensive search for employment and many interviews for a teaching position, I took a job in state employment.  I was disappointed at first because I really wanted to teach. I was told that I interviewed exceptionally well but they wanted more classroom experience. This confused me a great deal. I was interviewing for Business Teacher positions with over 15 years of experience working with young adults, as well as in the workforce, 2 years as a substitute teacher and vocationally certified.  You would think that the classroom experience would come as the value of relevant work experience for application in the classroom was priceless. Especially in a time when there is a cry for 21st century skills and relevant experience for students to be ready for the workforce upon graduation. Okay, back to the point. I really want to teach because I love the interaction with students. I love to see the aha! look when they get a concept. I enjoyed the “I don’t get it”, or “I disagree” looks too.  This meant I had a challenge on my hands.  However, I have come to realize it’s not my turn yet.

While at this job in state government, I deal with customers daily. In my dealings I have learned a lot.  I have determined that these are things that I will pen and incorporate in my classroom and interactions with youth.  After all, they are our future right?

1.       Reading is Fundamental. In my line of work I can’t tell you how many customers call with questions about their situation because they received some correspondence in the mail.  They want to know why they received it and what does it have to do with them. After listening to them read the correspondence I realize in the first two paragraphs that these questions are answered, but I still have to explain the exact same information to them verbally that they received in the written form.  A great deal of their frustration of waiting on hold for several hours to speak to someone could have been alleviated had they read the correspondence or even listened to the messages playing while on hold for an agent.

2.       Comprehension is a MUST! I have learned that most people read but only a few comprehend. When something is read, comprehension leads to action.  If you cannot comprehend what is being read you cannot tell in my line of work if a customer is entitled to money, owes money, or money must be paid back to the government.

These 2 points make me think of Chris Tovani’s I read It But I just Don’t Get it.

3.       Listening is Essential.  You cannot gain knowledge if you do not listen to what you are told. In my situation a customer cannot get the info they need if they are not listening. 

Reflections of an At-Risk Student Turned Educator

Over the last few weeks I have been creating my own professional development.  I have been silently following various educator hashtags on twitter, reading blogs, following the "Waiting for Superman" commotion, and reading a book. I haven't had a real desire to comment on anything that I have read until I finished the book, America’s Unseen Kids: Teaching English Language Arts in Today’s Forgotten High Schools, by Dr. Hal Foster and Megan Nosol. This book talked about a university professor's journey with his pre-service teachers in a program where they collaborated with an "urban" high school to prepare the pre-service teachers for teaching, and the high school students getting the extra help that they need in school.  Although the focus of this program was on English/Language Arts, it is important to note the experiences the students and pre-service teachers had apply to any educator regardless of subject. 

 

As I read this book, I began to reflect own my on K-12 schooling.  I grew up on the east coast, the Philadelphia School District from 1978 through 1990.  I lived in the heart of the inner city or "ghetto" as it was referred to.  The elementary school I started at was five minutes from home.  I went to Head Start in a trailer in the elementary school's huge schoolyard.  Since I completed Head Start there it has caught on fire at least five times.  When I moved on to kindergarten I simply walked through the schoolyard and into the elementary school.  However, this walk was with caution.  I had to be careful of broken glass from beer and wine bottles as well as other trash.  By the time I made it to fourth grade, my mother had my brother and I transferred to another school in the suburbs two hours away by public transportation from our home because the teacher told me that her son was smarter than I was, yet she did not teach the class much of anything.  My brother and I caught a school bus to this music magnet school.  After eighth grade, I then moved on to an magnet high school that specialized in college prep. Each school that I attended the environment got better and better.  So it is very true, the better the neighborhood or opportunities a school has, the better for its students.  The high school I attended was right behind a college campus in the middle of the city.  The neighborhood wasn't great, I would travel thirty minutes on the subway from one ghetto to another. We had to walk in pairs or groups, and for our own safety we couldn't hang around after school.  However, we had everything we needed to be successful in that building.  Most of my teachers were a lot like Hal and Megan.  This book reminded me that as an educator regardless of the environment, I have to ensure that the students I teach have opportunities and it is up top me to provide them in every way I can.  If I don't, it is not only a detriment to me but to our communities and society.

At the beginning of the book they give a few themes to teachers that they titled: 

 

Our Guiding Themes for Teachers of At-Risk Students (What We Learned from At-Risk Classrooms)

1. Stop stereotyping.
2. Respect diversity in culture and language.
3. Create strong teacher-student relationships.
4. Hold high expectations.
5. Implement student-centered teaching.
6. Give students hope in their ability to read and write.
7. Connect students’ experiences to what they are learning.
8. Allow students to select what they read and write.
9. Apply different teaching techniques to appeal to all learning styles.
10. Deliver an advanced curriculum.
11. Provide students with ample opportunities to share their work.
12. Learn to live with complexity.
13. Celebrate student achievement.
14. Take advantage of all possible resources.
15. Reflect on your teaching constantly. 

(Foster & Nosol, 2008)

These are themes that as educators we should follow with all of our students, at-risk or not.  When we remove the labels and just teach our students, we will produce great minds. Thus, individuals that can thrive and overcome in spite of adversities.